The WNBA got off to a strong start for the opening week of what is one of the league's most-anticipated seasons ever.
The Tuesday, May 14 game between the Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun, Caitlin Clark's debut game, garnered over two million viewers, which is the most for a WNBA game since 2001. Those viewership numbers were achieved despite the game competing with the NBA Playoffs and not even being put on the main ESPN channel, let alone a broadcast channel like ABC.
Related: How Caitlin Clark's WNBA debut viewership compares to other sports events
This WNBA season feels like a major step in the right direction for women's basketball, which already shook off a ton of the disrespect it was receiving from the public after the NCAA March Madness tournament earlier this year.
But the disrespect for women in basketball isn't even close to gone, and that was showcased over the weekend through a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by WNBA legend and ESPN's WNBA commentator Rebecca Lobo.
The former WNBA All-Star and NCAA Champion said in the video that she was at an AAU tournament coaching her 15-year-old son's basketball team, which she has been coaching over the past few years, when she said that she got into an altercation that "has never happened before."
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Lobo said that she received a technical foul for shouting at a referee during the game — a common occurrence at any level of basketball — though she admitted that she said screamed "too loud." Another referee approached Lobo to argue in favor of his fellow referee, while Lobo said she argued for her team, this time in a more calm tone.
"This ref, a man, looked at me and he said, 'This is a grown man's game. This is not a women's game," Lobo said before making an exasperated look.
Lobo, who stands at 6 feet 4 inches tall, did not say anything more about the altercation in the video, instead promoting the Sunday, May 19 between the "grown women" of the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty.
Been coaching my son’s basketball teams for the past six years. Something new happened today. It wasn’t awesome. pic.twitter.com/buL6rJNKT9
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) May 17, 2024
More Women’s Basketball:
- The harsh reality behind the shockingly low WNBA contracts
- Is Caitlin Clark losing money by going to the WNBA? Here are both sides of the argument
- WNBA Commissioner has big plans for the league's next media rights deal
While women's basketball has taken over the spotlight this year, women have still yet to break through the barriers on the coaching side as no woman has become a head coach in the NBA as of yet.
The closest example was Becky Hammon, who served as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs from 2014 to 2022, and was a finalist for the head coaching gig of the Portland Trailblazers in 2021. That role ultimately went to 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups.
There have been strides in other leagues for women as coaches of men's teams. In the NBA G-League, Lindsay Harding won last season's Coach of the Year Award in her first season as head coach after guiding the Stockton Kings to the league's best record. In the BIG3, Nancy Lieberman and Lisa Leslie have both coached teams to championships.
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